New to fly tying

[BTflyman]

Hello fellow fly fishermen! I am going to start tying my own flies and need a little advice. I am going to be self taught and I have a few books and of course the web to help me out. I have materials and tools to get started. My question is if you were to tell me say 4-5 flies to start with that are not super difficult what would they be? (I tied a San juan worm already WOO HOO! LOL)
Any info would help! Hope to get out this weekend w/ the weather...anyone interested I will be on the Lehigh Valley streams.

 

[MKern]

San Juan
Green Weenie
Chenelle Fly
Brassie

For a dry I would say Renegade

 

[gfen]

Hare's Ear nymphs and pheasant tails. You will probably lose alot of them if you fish bottom, both are cheap, many people find them very easy.

The woolly bugger is your all purpose streamer, and very easy.

Learning to tie a parachute dry fly would do well. Well, any dry fly. YMMV on which one you like.

The LL Bean store in the Promanade Mall has a 26 week, all free, class. It starts again in March. Walks you from rank beginner to reasonably competent or better. I would suggest it. Call or stop in and ask.

 

[MKern]

My list was based off number of materials and way they are secured to the hook.

the number of materials and the way they are put on the hooks (like dubbing) make it frustrating to a true beginner.

Flies like weenies and brassies allow for a beginner to learn thread control and tension, boddy proportions, hand-over-hand, and fly finishing (without the materials coming unwound).

The renagade is a good dry because it is the basic of dry fly hackling.


I would go as far to say flies like prince nymphs and zug bugs are too difficult for the beginner fly tyer. Not saying you shouldn't try them, but there re many more things to do/consider while tying these patterns.

 

[gfen]

Actually, I think I answered it poorly.

Learn to tie the flies you use. Period. Buy the materials you need, and begin to practice on them.

Keep a couple of the early rejects for nostalgia, fish the ones that are good enough, and any that aren't cut or burn the materials off and tie again.

Why waste time with stuff you don't want?

 

[MKern]

I aggree with that.

 

[TUNA]

I also think tying the flies you use most helps a lot. I found it a lot easier to learn doing it that way. I still don't tie a whole lot, but there are probably 10 flies I can pretty well. All 10 are the ones I use most.

 

[PatriotFly26]

Well. I first want to give you a background on my tying. I started tying flies about a year after I started fly fishing. I didn't want to pay for all the flies I snapped off. At the time I started was when I was around 12 or 13? I taught myself, other than the help I got from the guy at the shop who I bought my supplies from. I had a beginner book and a mind full of aspirations.

I won't say that this is for a fact the best way to start tying, but I will tell you, this is the way I did it, and the way I would teach anyone else to do it. I learned pretty much on my own, it's possible and it can be a blast when you figure out that you aren't that bad at it.

START THIS WAY:

Pick up some black thread, some chenile, some saddle hackle, and marabou.

Start with wooly buggers, and wooly worms.

Then....After you can look at yours and say they look comparable to those either in the book, or online.....Tie whatever flies you want to use. It really is as simple as that. If you fly fish, which I would assume you do, what flies do you use? Tie those.

Get the materials, get a pattern, and tie away. Don't burn yourself out, pace yourself, do it slowly, and enjoy the time you spend tying.

 

[bam]

I would suggest buying only materials for flies you fish the most. Otherwise, 90% of it will just collect dust. If you stick with it its bound to happen, but this should at least delay the inevitable

 

[BTflyman]

Thanks everyone! Well these will be what I will try then:

Parachute Adams
BWO's
Sulphurs
Royal Wolfs
Hares ears
Pheasant tails
Wooly's

Tricos (I think I will just buy those...so dang small!)

 

[gfen]

BTflyman wrote:
Thanks everyone! Well these will be what I will try then:
Tricos (I think I will just buy those...so dang small!)

By summer time, this'll be easy. They're dead stupid simple, just wee. Give it time.

They're also part of that class I mentioned.

 

[BelAirSteve]

I started tying pheasant tails in 14's and I still have them. They are laughable, but in a "nostalgic" way, as some have suggested! Now that I have gotten much better, I tie them in 18's and they are one of my go to flies.

My other piece of advice to folks new to tying is to try CDC. It is a little expensive, but I think it is easy to work with and you can produce a lot of different, useful flies with it.

 

[fritz]

Wooly Buggers, hare's ear, pheasant tail, muskrat nymph, and for a dry fly an elk hair caddis is an easy one to start off with. And (this is over your 4 to 5 limit) wet flies (patridge & orange, green and yellow).

 

[osprey]

I agree that a wooly bugger is a good place to start , not only can you tie them in a short time , they fish well and give you confidence that your flies will catch fish , then you move on from there. Good advice on here.

 

[BTflyman]

Thanks Everyone great info..this site is amazing. Hope to see some of you this weekend at the mini beginners jam!